Death Angel
by CatsEatPots
Summary: Seven years after Scorpia Rising. Alex is dragged back into the world of espionage and sent to America to face off against a former friend and face the consequences of the past he wrote for himself.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Alex sprang up from the bed, pouring with sweat. He reached for his for the TV remote on his bedside table and switched it on.

His curtains blew in the wind, the breeze whispering things he wanted to forget into his ear.

Alex switched to BBC news and found himself watching a report on yesterdays' " _Trafalgar Square Attack."_

The reporter said that a highly rich and skilled individual, probably a former soldier named Jack Davies booked out the rooftop terrace of the Trafalgar Hotel and used a sniper rifle to pick off tourists and others in the square below him.

She said that they do not know if he had any accomplices that helped him plan this attack or his motives for the attack as he killed himself before police could reach him.

' _We will update this story as it unfolds. This has been Laura Parsons, from BBC News. Back to the studio'_

Alex got out of bed, flicking the light switch beside his bed and walking over to his wardrobe and getting dressed to go outside.

Alex grabbed his phone and connected his headphones. He walked over to the door and turned the handle slowly, trying to make the least amount of noise possible so he wouldn't wake up his housemates.

He opened the music app on his phone, put on his headphones and opened the door.

It was another cold, winter, London day outside. Alex went down the stepped and broke into his usual morning run as he watched his breath turn to vapour.

Signs and streetlamps lit up the streets around him as he ran through the waking city. He always appreciated the beauty of London and loved the city streets and the atmosphere the city gave.

Alex ran through the streets that were empty aside from a few people that had already woken up and were heading to work.

After finishing his run Alex went back into his house and went into the kitchen to eat breakfast and found one of his housemates, Josh unconscious on the floor with an empty bottle in his hand and Vodka all other his shirt.

Alex stepped over him and laughed, he opened one of the cupboards, grabbed a box of cereal, made himself a bowl and went back to his room.

He climbed back into his bed and switched the TV back on. In his pocket his phone went off, so he put down his cereal, reached into his pocket and checked who was calling him but whoever was calling him had hung up.

 _1 Missed call from 'Unknown'_

Alex swiped, opened his phone and called the number back.

"Who is this?" Alex said in a harsh voice.

"Meet me at the Aqua Shard restaurant on Thursday at 3 PM"

The caller hung up.

The man spoke in a thick cockney accent and his voice sounded familiar to Alex but he didn't know who the caller was.

Alex reached into his drawer and took out his antidepressants, put one in his mouth and swallowed.

In the next room, he heard Tom shouting at someone, Alex got out of his bed and went into Tom's room, were he saw Tom shouting at someone on the phone.

"Yes, I know you need your money!" Tom shouted down the phone

"Who told you that? Listen, OK, I'm getting paid tomorrow, I'll pay you then."

Tom threw the phone on the floor.

"What was that all about?" Alex asked

"Nothing, just someone I owe money," Tom said

Alex shut the door to Toms bedroom and went downstairs into the sitting room and sat down to watch TV when he heard a knock on the door.

He got up and walked over to the door and opened it.

The door opened to a young woman, not much older than him dressed in a winter coat and jeans holding a notepad.

She had made an effort to make herself look smart but she was still wearing tatty, dirty clothes. Alex had worked out already that something was wrong.

"Hi. I'm Neve Palmer from The Guardian, I was hoping to interview you for a story on emotional trauma."

Alex invited her into the house and cautiously guided her into the sitting room and gestured for her to sit.

"I've heard about what happened to you in Egypt and about the death of your guardian, Jack Starbright. How did you feel about her death?" Neve asked.

 _Jack Starbright_ , the thought of the name brought back lots of bad memories for Alex, memories of his final mission for MI6 in Egypt, memories of the house in Chelsea he grew up in with her after his uncle died.

"I was very fond of Jack. After my uncle died she raised me and treated me like her own son and I treated her like my mother. She was always there for me, even before my uncle died she pretty much raised me." Alex said

She looked at her notepad and wrote something down.

"Next question," she said. "How do you feel about your uncle, Ian Rider." She asked.

"My uncle was hardly ever home, he was always abroad for work. When he was home he hardly ever had time for me, I never really got to know him before he died." Alex replied

"What impact did the death of your guardian have on you?" She asked, probing Alex.

"After Jack died, I didn't know what to do with myself, I hated living without her and I still miss her as much as anything," Alex said.

"What about your uncle, Ian Rider. How did you feel after he died?" Neve asked.

"My uncle's death didn't have as much of an impact on me as Jack's did, I still loved my uncle but he was hardly ever around," Alex said, trying to be as truthful as he can whilst trying not to reveal as much as he could about his past

"Thank you, Alex, I'll be going now, do you mind if I use the bathroom on the way out?" She asked.

"No, not at all," Alex replied "It's just to the left of the front door."

Alex wondered how she knew so much about him, none of his files was ever released to the public and she wouldn't know anything about what happened in Egypt unless she was MI6.

"Shit," Alex said aloud.

He went into the bathroom and on the back of the door, he found a note.

' _Mrs. Jones is waiting'_

Alex went outside and hailed the nearest black cab and asked to go to the Royal and General bank.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Alex walked up to the front desk and told the receptionist his name and that he was here to see Mrs Jones.

The layout and design of the bank had been completely changed in Alex's absence and the bank had become much more modern and sleek since his last visit.

As he was told to head upstairs to Mrs Jones office, the receptionist handed him an envelope sealed with the MI6 coat of arms.

"Mr Blunt wanted you to have a few months after your mission in Egypt, he sent this to the office, I heard about what happened in Egypt. Nasty business that."

"Thank you," Alex said bluntly, forcing a smile onto his face.

He walked past the front desk, up a small set of stairs and opened a door to his left, taking him into a stairwell that led either up or down.

Alex climbed the stairwell to the fourth and top floor and exited the stairwell into a corridor that he followed straight until he reached the door to Mrs Jones' office.

He walked up to the door and took a deep breath in before twisting the doorknob and opening the door.

Mrs Jones was sitting at a desk in front of a window that covered the back wall of the room.

She gestured for Alex to sit down in front of her and took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Alex. I'm sorry to have to bring you back into all of this after what happened to you in Egypt and in America but now, more than ever – we need someone of your expertise."

Alex gave a small nod to Mrs Jones

"We need you to infiltrate the Holloway family estate in upstate New York. Mr.

Holloway is an international gang boss but neither us or the CIA have sufficient evidence to pull him off his throne. We need you to infiltrate his estate and find something solid we can use to press charges against him."

Mrs Jones reached into one of her desk drawers and pulled out a file.

"This is everything we have on the Holloway family. Once you land at JFK our contact in INTERPOL will meet you there and take you to a compound near the estate. Get reading, your flight leaves at 6 AM on Friday"

Alex stood up from his chair and gave another nod to Mrs Jones and walked out of the office.

He cursed himself, how could he allow himself to fall back into this, back into the grasp of MI6.

Alex stepped into an elevator and rode it down to the ground floor, exited the bank and took a cab back to his house.

* * *

 _The next day_

Alex woke up early that morning to finish reading the file he had been given on the Holloway's. From what he had gathered, crime was the Holloway family business.

The family had immigrated from Ghana to the U.S in the 30's when Mr Holloway was a child, once they had arrived in the U.S, Mr Holloway's father worked his way up the ranks in another gang until he had the influence to diverge from that gang and have many follow him.

Once Mr Holloways' parents died he inherited their following and grew the strength of the gang in the late 40's and early 50's.

Mr Holloway increased the ranks of their gang and turned it into an international business and killing machine.

The gang was ruthless and killed anyone bold enough to defy them, betray them or stand in their way without hesitation.

' _Great,'_ Alex thought. _'Just the type of people I want to be dealing with.'_

After a few hours of reading through the file, Alex took his phone out his pocked and looked at the time.

 _2:30 PM_

He put his phone back into his wardrobe and threw on a clean t-shirt and a pair of jeans and exited his room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Alex went downstairs and called a minicab, once the cab got to his house he asked the driver to take him to the shard.

After he had gotten into the cab Alex pulled out his phone and texted Tom.

' _Going out for a bit. If anyone knocks at the door asking for me, tell them to fuck off and shut the door'_

' _Ok,'_ Tom replied. _'Try not to get stabbed'_

Alex put his phone back into his pocked and pulled out the sealed envelope he had been given at the Royal and General.

He tore open the letter, crumpling up the envelope and putting it back into his pocket.

 _Alex._

 _If you're reading this, then I've either stepped down from my position at MI6 or I've been killed. Now that you've been back from Egypt from Egypt for a few months, even if you're reading this years later. I suggest you get help Alex, what happened in Egypt has clearly traumatized you. I know you hate me and think of me as just another wanker in a suit but I do really have your best interests in mind Alex._

Alex laughed.

 _One last thing Alex, if MI6 ever summon you back to the bank, DO NOT trust them, no matter what they say and no matter the circumstances, the only people you can trust there are me and Tulip. If you get spoken to or sent anywhere by anyone else, come straight to me. I'll be at 65 Sloane Street, Knightsbridge._

 _Best Regards._

 _Alan Blunt._

Alex folded the letter up and put it in his pocket.

* * *

Once the cab had arrived at the shard, Alex stepped out and paid the driver. Alex entered the building and took the elevator up to level 31, The Aqua Shard.

Alex walked into the restaurant and spoke to one of the waiters.

"Hi, I'm Alex Rider, there should be a reservation for me," Alex said.

"Of course, right this way." The waiter said, gesturing for Alex to follow him.

The waiter led Alex to a table. Sitting down at the table, Alex recognized the familiar face of John Crawley.

"Blunt sent me," Crawley said. "I trust you've already met Laura." He said, gesturing to the seat next to him where she was sitting.

"Yes, I've met her," Alex said. "Why have you gone through all this to talk to me?"

"Blunt wanted me to check up on you, I've also got something to say," John said. "I know that Tulip is sending you to America to deal with the Holloway's. I've got some advice for you when you get to the estate, ask around for Simon, he can help you."

After the conversation with Crawley, the three of them sat together for lunch, which to Alex's surprise he enjoyed. He never liked anything organized by MI6.

"Are you still at MI6?" Alex asked Crawley.

"No," John replied. "I left a few years ago, I run security for Blunt, You'd be surprised by how many people want him dead."

After the lunch, Alex called another cab and headed to Sloane Street to see Mr Blunt.

Alex climbed into the other cab and asked the driver to take him to Blunt's addresd.

Once the cab reached Blunt's house Alex stepped out onto the pavement and knocked on the door of the house.

A man dressed in a suit and tie opened the door and led Alex upstairs to Alan's room.

Alex entered the room and the man remained outside,

Mr Blunt was laying in his bed watching the news; a heart monitor connected to him.

He smiled when Alex walked into the room.

"I'm glad you came Alex; I've been waiting for a few years now."

He let out a raspy cough.

"The doctor said I've only got a year left at most; I guess karma finally caught up with me." He said with a smile on his face.

Shock flickered across Alex's face.

"What happened?" Alex asked, concerned.

"Lung Cancer, it's spread to my heart too," Mr Blunt said. "I haven't got long left anymore. I was hoping you would come and see me."

Alex smiled at Mr Blunt. "I'm sorry." He said.

Mr Blunt let out a few more coughs and his heartbeat became slower.

He said through his coughs. "Remember Alex. Don't trust anyone.

His heart monitor flatlined.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Alex stepped into the blacked out car, placing his suitcase in the seat next to him.

"Alex," the liaison said. "You're posing as a new member of Holloway's gang, Jesse Douglas, we arrested the real Jesse Douglas and found out all we knew before he got to the estate. We need you to work your way up through the gang until you find something solid enough to bring him down."

Alex gave a nod to the FBI agent

"I'll be taking you to an FBI safe house near the estate to give you a full briefing. After that, get over to the estate, and pull Holloway off his throne."

The two of them drove out of New York city from JFK and into upstate New York, they

Alex dropped his suitcase by the door of the safehouse and went into the sitting room.

The Interpol liaison called over the other FBI officers and sat everyone down in the kitchen for the full briefing.

"Listen up. We're sending Alex into the Holloway estate to pull the man off his throne," The liaison said. "This is a joint operation with the boys across the pond in England, they've sent Alex over here to infiltrate Holloway's empire and take him down".

Looks flickered across the room to Alex.

"Alex," he said. "Anytime you get a chance, come back to the safehouse and keep us updated on anything you find and let us know about anything you hear. "

Alex gave a nod to the FBI agent.

The agent handed Alex a gun with a suppressor screwed onto the barrel. "Only use this if you have to. He said, "Do _not_ blow your cover, this is our only shot at Holloway. They're expecting you tomorrow at 2. Don't be late," The liaison handed Alex a piece of paper with a phone number on. "If you need to contact me from inside the mansion, here's my number."

Alex walked back out into the main hall and put all of his stuff into a smaller bag the liaison had given him and brought it upstairs into one of the bedrooms.

Alex dropped the bag and walked back downstairs.

He walked into the sitting room and sat down with the others in front of a coffee table.

One of the officers sitting on the other side of the coffee table in front of him challenged him to a game of chess.

Alex gave the officer a nod and started the game.

Chess was one of the things Alex loved doing with his father when he was a child and a thing he was always good at.

He would always use the four move checkmate against new people.

' _Kingside Pawn. Two squares up'_ he told himself.

The officer moved his kingside pawn forward.

Alex moved his bishop into a position to attack the bishop side pawn.

The officer moved his rookside pawn forward.

Alex moved his queen into a position to take the bishop side pawn.

The officer moved his knight side pawn forward.

Alex took the bishop side pawn with his queen.

"'Mate." He said aloud.

"Damn," said the officer. "You're good"

The officer got up and walked upstairs.

Alex stayed in the sitting room for a while, watching the TV and speaking to some of the other officers in the safehouse, asking about what they were doing.

After a few hours, Alex went back upstairs into the makeshift barracks he had dumped his bag in and fell onto one of the empty mattresses.

Alex stared out the window and watched the sunset.

Once the sun had set. Alex laid back on the mattress and shut his eyes to sleep.

* * *

 _The Next Day_

Alex pulled out his phone to check the time.

 _1:39 PM_

 _2 Missed Calls From Chloe_

He picked up his bag and slid his phone back into his pocket and walked downstairs toward the front door.

Alex opened the front door to the house and sat outside on the steps.

' _How did I let myself get dragged back into this_?' He thought.

He rested his head in his hand as the wind blew past him.

Alex stayed on the steps for a while and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He texted Tom.

' _I'll be back in a few days. Found work and need to go abroad, tell the others and lock the door to my room.'_

' _K. Where you gone?"_

' _New York.'_

' _Nice one mate'_

He slid the phone back into his pocket and got up.

Alex walked along the edge of the road by the coast until he reached the Holloway family estate.

A man dressed in a suit answered the door and asked Alex for his name.

"I'm Jesse Douglas, I'm here to see Mr Holloway," Alex said.

The man gestured for Alex to come in. "Follow me." The man said.

Alex followed the man upstairs and into Mr Holloway's study.

"Ah, Jesse," Mr Holloway said. "Please, sit down."

Alex sat down in front of Mr Holloway.

"A foreigner, are you?" Mr Holloway said.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "I'm English."

"You should start straight away," Holloway said. "Go downstairs and speak to Cervis. He's just about to leave for a gun's sale."

Alex left the study and went back downstairs, the walls of the house were decorated with paintings of the Holloway family and other family decorations.

Cervis was leaning up against the car, smoking a cigarette waiting for Alex.

"Are you the new guy?" He asked Alex.

"Yeah," Alex replied, climbing into the car.

Cervis opened the garage door and drove out of the estate.

They drove through Nyack, past the FBI safehouse and into Manhattan.

"So," Cervis said to Alex. "What's your story?"

"Met some of you lot back in England, I flew out here to join up."

Cervis nodded at Alex. "When we get there, don't do anything unless I say so." He said.

The two of them drove out of Nyack and into the city.

They drove through the traffic in Manhattan until Cervis pulled over into an alleyway and climbed out of the car.

Cervis walked round to the back of the car and lifted out a box of weapons.

Alex stayed behind Cervis and let him do the talking.

"We got the guns," Cervis said. "Now give us the money."

One of the other men reached into his pocket and pulled out a stack of money held together by a rubber band.

Cervis nudged Alex and gestured for him to collect the money.

Alex walked out and grabbed the money off of one of the other men and handed it to Cervis.

Alex and Cervis climbed back into the car and drove back to the estate.

Though he hadn't been there long, Alex liked New York and much preferred it to San Francisco.

Alex winced.

The name reminded him of what happened back in San Francisco. The thought of what happened made his stomach churn.

Cervis drove back out of the city, into Rockland County and back to the Holloway Estate in Nyack.

Alex took a few moments to appreciate the beauty of upstate New York and the emptiness of the roads they drove through.

The garage door lifted open and Cervis put the car back into its space.

Alex walked back out into the main lobby and followed another of the guard's upstairs into a small bedroom.

He put his bag in the bed and sat down on a chair in the corner.

Alex got up, locked the door and slumped into his bed to sleep.

All he could see when he shut his eyes was the look of terror on Sabina's face after what he did, as much as he tried to forget what happened and run from it, it always came back to him.

* * *

 _Alex fell back onto the floor, he pulled himself back up and lunged at Seb._

 _Someone grabbed him from behind and held him in a headlock._

 _Seb lunged at him again._

 _Alex grabbed Seb and threw him to the floor._

 _He felt someone else punch him in the nose and a warm liquid started trickling down from his nose.  
_

 _He reached over to one of the pool tables and picked up a pool cue; Alex swung at Seb with the pool cue, hitting him in the arm._

* * *

Alex woke up the next day and checked the time on his phone.

 _7:12 AM_

He slid his phone back into his pocket and exited the room and went downstairs to try and find Simon.

In the dining room, he heard someone on the phone.

"Okay, I'll fly back out for the funeral in a few days." The man said, "Who's this Jesse bloke you're speaking about?"

Simon spoke in a thick Irish accent, he had thick unkempt ginger hair, covering a lot of his face and he had freckles around most of his face.

"Oh right, okay, I'll ask about for him."

Simon hung up.

"I'm guessing you're Simon then," Alex said jokingly.

"Yeah," Simon said. "Blunt's funeral's in a few days, Crawley's flying us back out for the funeral."

Alex gave a nod.

"Follow me," Simon said, changing to a whisper. "I'll tell you everything I know.

Simon led Alex to his room and pulled out a notebook.

"They flew me out here a few months ago, I haven't found anything solid enough yet, but I've heard something about some Gothyeva bloke Holloway had killed, try find out as much as you can about him, I've also something about the Federal Reserve bank codes, find out as much as you can do about both of them without blowing your cover, in the meantime, get as close to Holloway and Cervis as you can. The closer you get, the more they'll tell you."

Alex gave a nod to Simon and wandered back upstairs into his own room

He walked into his en-suite, undressed and stepped into the shower.

The hot water rushed out from the shower and raced down Alex's back

Alex hadn't been in a house this nice for a while.

In a way Alex sort of enjoyed this, although he had been dragged back by MI6, he hadn't been anywhere as good as this before.

Alex turned the shower off, redressed and stepped back into his bedroom.

Outside, he heard two other men speaking to each over.

"The boy's have all three codes to the combination lock." One of the men said, "we need to take care of Kurt, Gerard and Sophie and send them into the vault."

"I'll get it done." Said the other. "Are we really sending the new guy in instead of Jonny?"

"I'll talk to him, see if he's up to it." The first man said.

One of them walked off and the other came into Alex's room and started speaking.

"Listen. We put together a crew to get into the Federal Reserve vault but one of the crew is abroad for family shit. We've already got the codes, just follow the others, they'll tell you what to do; you up for it."

Alex hesitated for a moment and gave a nod.

"Good, head downstairs and speak to Rick, he'll fill you in on the details, you're going into the bank in 2 day's, get your shit together"

The man got up and exited Alex's room, shutting the door behind him.

Alex messaged the liaison he had met two days' before.

' _Meet me at Jack's Bar in an hour.'_

' _OK. Guessing you found something?"_

' _Yeah, I'll fill you in at the bar.'_

Alex waited in his room for a while before going out to walk to the bar.

His breath turned to vapour in the cold winter's air, Alex turned his head to the side and watched the waves crash against the rough beach.

He quickened his pace and walked towards the bar.

Once he got there, he sat down at a table with the FBI agent who was already sat there waiting for him.

"What did you find?" The agent asked him.

"Holloway's got a crew together, including me, to get into the Federal Reserve Vault in a few days, I haven't got any direct links to Holloway yet. Give em' protection, find a way to get them to rat on Holloway, and try to get him into a position where he'll do something stupid." Alex said, he had already worked out a plan in his head to bring Holloway down.

"Good, we'll bring in extra security to the bank and make sure they don't slip through our fingers, keep poking about the estate, if you find anything good, come straight to me, we'll follow up on any leads we get."

Alex stepped out of the bar and back into the street.

That's when he heard the first gunshot.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The bullet tore through the air and buried itself in the tire of a truck.

The truck swerved and rolled onto its side.

Alex heard screams and gunshots from inside the diner.

The FBI liaison pulled out his phone and dialled in a number.

"This is Special Agent Davies. Requesting officers and an ambulance to The Nyack Whale diner. Shots have been fired inside and outside the diner and a truck has rolled over on the road along the Hudson.

The woman on the other end of the phone said something to the agent.

"Thank you." The agent said before hanging up. "Follow me." He said to Alex.

The agent burst through the doors into the diner.

Behind the counter, there was a man holding the waitress at gunpoint.

"Oh shit." The agent said quietly. Davies radioed in for support from other officers and drew his gun.

"Listen." The agent said, "Let her go and we'll let you walk away from here."

The man shook his head. "He said he'd pay me 50K, double that and I'll let her go."

Davies bit his lip and hesitated for a second.

"You know that can never happen." The agent said, "Let's start from the beginning. What's your name?" Davies asked.

The gunman hesitated and gave a slight laugh before speaking. "Aidan. My name's Aidan."

Alex heard sirens blaring outside and looked out of the window to see that the police had arrived outside and were waiting outside of the diner.

"Well, Aidan." The liaison said, "D'you have a wife. Kids?"

The gunman gave a nod. "I'm engaged."

"Congratulations." The agent said, "Let the hostage go and you can walk away from this, with your freedom."

"Give me the money." The gunman replied, "Then I'll let her go."

Davies gave a nod to the gunman and the gunman released the hostage.

He took aim and squeezed the trigger of his handgun.

The gunman crumpled on to the floor, screaming out in pain.

Agent Davies led Alex out of the door and walked back, along the bank of the Hudson to the FBI safehouse with him.

He turned the key and unlocked the door, stepping into the hallway.

The agent led Alex into the basement of the safehouse and walked into a room into the side, slamming the door behind him, sitting down and gesturing for Alex to do the same.

"What the hell happened back there?!" The agent said to Alex.

"Listen, in a few days we'll be flying you and Simon back across the pond for Blunt's funeral."

Alex gave a nod to the liaison.

"The funeral will be the morning after you arrive back in London, we're booking the two of you into the Ritz, at 7, head down to the front desk and someone from MI5 will be there to escort you Our Lady Of Lourdes, where the funeral will take place."

Alex gave another nod of acknowledgement.

"This is high security, anything dodgy happens, you get evacuated to an MI5 safe house in the centre of London. Listen Alex; don't get distracted out there, focus on the operation, as soon as you get back here, focus on bringing Holloway down, don't blow it."

Alex got up to leave and then Davies' phone rang.

A look of shock flickered across Agent Davies' face and he gestured for Alex to sit back down.

The agent gave a nod and bit his lip before slamming his phone down onto his desk.

"Alex; someone's broken into your house in London, MI5 are flying you back out in the morning, go back to the estate, get your stuff together."

Alex walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him in anger.

He walked upstairs and exited the house, walking along the bank of the Hudson until he reached the Holloway Estate.

Alex used the key he had been given and let himself back in, he walked upstairs and knocked on the door of Mr Holloway's office.

"Come in!" Holloway shouted.

"Mr Holloway," Alex said, "Something has come up and I need to urgently fly back out to England tomorrow morning, is that alright with you?"

Without looking up from his desk, Holloway gave a nod and gestured for Alex to leave the office. "We'll find postpone the Fed job for now. Doesn't matter much to me, as long as it gets done."

Alex left the room, shutting the door behind him.

He walked along the corridor until he reached his room, he fell onto his bed and checked his phone.

 _10 Missed Calls from Chloe_.

* * *

He gave a sigh and shut his eyes to sleep.

 _Alex's head still hurt._

 _He pushed Sabina down the stairs and heard her let out a scream as she hit the ground._

 _She crawled away from him as he walked towards the kitchen._

 _He grabbed a knife out of the kitchen drawer and walked over to Sabina._

 _Alex picked her up and squeezed her throat._

 _He raised the knife in his hand and plunged it into her stomach._

 _She screamed out in pain as the knife cut into her._

 _Sabina fell back onto the floor, clutching her stomach._

 _He heard sirens at the front of the house._

 _Alex opened the back door to the house and ran._

* * *

Alex stepped out of the lift and rung the doorbell to Chloe's flat.

Chloe answered the door and gestured for Alex to step inside.

"Welcome to my crib." She said jokingly.

Alex gave a laugh and sat down on the sofa.

Chloe threw herself onto the other sofa and reached for the TV remote.

"Where you been?" She asked Alex.

"New York," Alex said.

"Woah," Chloe said. "Step back Mr Cool Kid's in the room."

Alex let out a laugh and then a sigh.

"Someone broke into the house, Tom and every else got pretty hurt, going to go see them once I leave," Alex said.

"Seems like all the bad shit happens to you don't it," Chloe said.

Alex walked into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of coke and walked back into the sitting room.

"Bit rude not to ask me if I'm thirsty init." She said jokingly.

Alex downed the glass and stood back up.

"I'll be back in a few hours, going to go see Tom and that now."

Chloe gave a nod. "Not going to lie Mr Mad-lad, I missed you."

Alex threw his arms around her and let himself out of the flat.

He took the lift back to the ground floor and walked out of the block of flats and stepped into the minicab he called.

Alex drove through the city until he reached the Royal London Hospital.

"Cheers mate," Alex said as he stepped out of the cab.

He walked through the sliding doors and into the hospital.

Alex walked over to the receptionist. "My name's Alex Rider, I'm here to see Tom Harris, Joshua Plent and Matthew Hopkins."

The receptionist smiled at Alex. "We've been waiting for you, right this way." She said, gesturing for Alex to follow.

"Thomas was put in intensive care, the suspect stabbed him seven times in the stomach and the hand. He's lucky to be alive."

Alex bit his lip.

"Joshua has been discharged already, he sustained the least injuries out of everyone and Matthew is in Orthopedics, with a broken leg and wrist."

The receptionist led Alex to intensive care to see Tom first.

Alex paused in front of the door and gulped.

He walked into intensive care and sat down next to Tom's bed.

Tom looked at Alex and sighed

"I've already been through surgery twice. The docs say there's bad internal bleeding and that I should've bled out. Everyone's saying I'm lucky to be alive. Now I guess I know how you feel."

Tom gave a hoarse laugh.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"We were all having a laugh in the kitchen, Josh was piss drunk. Someone smashed in one of the windows and jumped in, me and Matt went to check out what happened and he came at us. Matt ran upstairs to try and grab a knife from his room and the guy stabbed for the first time" Tom said.

"He ran upstairs to go after mat and Matt hurt him a bit, I didn't see much but there was a scrap and he pushed Matt down the stairs, I tried to get up to go at the guy and then he stabbed the other six times. Josh realized what was happening, called the police and got in a scrap with the guy and broke his nose, as soon as Josh fell down, I blacked out, I don't remember much after that."

Alex sighed and bit his lip.

"What happened once you got here?" Alex asked Tom.

"I woke up in the back of an ambulance, I don't remember much but I remember going through the hospital on a gurney and waking up in here."

Alex got up to leave the room and go see Matt but Tom grabbed his arm.

"Alex." He hesitated, "Never mind."

Tom let go of Alex's arm and Alex came out of the hospital room and followed the receptionist to Matt's room.

Matt was laying upright in the hospital bed with his arm in a sling and his leg in a cast.

"How you holding up?" Alex asked

'Well, I feel a lot better than I did after he threw me down the stairs." Matt said jokingly.

Alex laughed. "What happened with the guy, what was he after?" Alex asked.

"Dunno." Matt said, "I went up to my room to grab a knife after me and Tom found him and he threw me down the stairs and stabbed Tom, he got in a scrap with Josh, and went upstairs into your room and came out with a bag of stuff."

"What did he look like?" Alex asked

"Brown hair, green eyes, bloke wore a hat and a puffer, he knew what he was doing," Matt replied

Alex walked out of the hospital room and through the plain hallways to the exit.

He had always hated hospitals, as a kid, they scared him and he never liked being there, he was there too often.

Alex walked through the sliding glass doors and down into Whitechapel underground station and took the tube to the hotel the FBI had booked him into.

He sat down on one of the seats and threw his bag in front of him on the floor.

Alex put his earphones in his ears and laid back.

After a while, someone tapped him on the shoulder and spoke to him.

"You Alex Rider?" The man asked.

"Who are you?" Alex asked, avoiding the question.

"Depends who you are; now answer my question, are you Alex Rider."

"Yeah," Alex replied with a sigh.

"Good," the man said. "Got a letter for you, straight from my employer. I'd suggest you read it."

Alex slid the envelope into his pocket and got off of his train, walking up the stairs, out of Green Park station and back into the city.

He walked along the street until he reached The Ritz, stopping for a moment outside to look at the beauty of the building.

Alex never went to places like this as a child, the only times he only really went abroad were for MI6 missions. He stepped into the building and walked to the reception desk.

"My name's Alex Rider, I'm here to check in," Alex said.

"Ah, Alex, someone else checked in earlier, he asked if you were here yet. Anyway, your room's on the top floor, number 109, deluxe king room."

The receptionist gave Alex a smile and handed him his room keycard.

"Enjoy your stay." She said with a smile.

Alex walked upstairs and found his way to his room and unlocked the door.

He felt the cool breeze hit him as he entered the room, he dumped his stuff at the door and walked back out, locking the door behind him to find Simon's room.

Alex walked over to the room opposite him, he knocked on the door and Simon answered.

He told Alex to come in and sat down with him in the living room of the suite.

"So. What's the story with Blunt?" Simon asked him.

Alex gave a sigh before he spoke. "When I was 14, my uncle, an MI6 special agent died and MI6 reached out to me, I met, Blunt, Crawley and Mrs Jones during my time at MI6, Blunt tried to reach out to me a few months after I left MI6 and wrote a letter for me and left it with MI6, I was visiting him when he died."

"Damn," Simon said. "Must've been tough with MI6."

"So." Alex said, "What's your story?"

"I served in the army for a few." Simon said, "Filed an AGAI and got past SAS training, after a while the lads back home must've realized that I was good at what I did and they flew me back home to join MI6. I never met Blunt, only heard about him."

"Going to go and unpack my stuff now, see you in a few," Alex said to Simon

Alex got up and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

He let himself back into his room and unpacked his stuff, positioning a photo of him and Jack next to his bed.

Alex got into his bed and shut his eyes.

* * *

 _Alex felt something hit him hard in the head._

 _He fell back off of his chair, freefalling into a pit and not stopping until he felt the cold winter air wrap itself around him._

 _Jack walked into his bedroom and shut the window._

" _I always tell you not to have that open in the winter, it's too cold for that. There's breakfast downstairs if you want it, pancakes and bacon."_

" _Thanks, Jack," Alex said to her._

" _I'm going out for a bit," Jack said, putting her headphones back onto her head. "I'll be back in about an hour, gonna go for a run and grab some stuff from the shops, if an old bloke knocks at the door and asks you to get in his van, you know what to do."_

 _Alex gave a nod to his guardian and climbed out of his bed, walking downstairs into the kitchen and wolfing down the pancakes Jack had made him.\_

 _He walked back upstairs to get changed and came back downstairs as Jack was leaving the house, he went to say something to Jack but no words came out._

 _He felt something hit him hard in the head again, he began to freefall back into the pit again, spiralling down off of a cliff and not stopping until he fell to the bottom of a rock face._

 _Alex pulled himself back up and walked along until he found a road. He walked along the road until he began to see a jeep, with flames coming off of it._

 _By the time he had got there, the jeep had become charred and only a few small flames were coming off of the charred jeep._

 _Alex looked beside the jeep and beside the jeep, he could see the charred and battered body of his former guardian. Jack Starbright._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

' _Goodnight and joy, be with you all'_

Alex heard a knock at his door, removed his earphones, drew his knife from under his hotel pillow and placed it into his off hand, his right hand, leaned against the doorway, placing his right hand on the wall and slowly opened the door.

Simons' face appeared in the doorway and Alex took his off hand away from the wall and slid the knife through the belt loops on his jeans.

A brief look of shock flickered across Simon's face as he took his eyes away from Alex and began to talk.

"Government should be here to pick us up in about two hours," he flicked a tuft of hair off of his forehead. "I'd suggest you start getting ready."

Simon shut the door and walked back across the hall into the adjacent room.

Alex stepped into the en-suite bathroom, undressed and stepped into the shower, turning the dial to just below full heat and turning on the shower jets.

After a few minutes, he stepped out of the shower, placed a towel around his waist, dried his long messy blonde hair and stepped back out into his hotel room, redressing into a full black suit and a tie.

He picked up his phone from the bed and put his earphones back into his ears and listened to music until he heard another set of knocks on his hotel room door.

Again, he took his earphones out, quickly put a two of his antidepressant tablets into his mouth, taking a sip of his water bottle with it and swallowing.

Alex stood up and answered the door, to Simon.

"The Carpool's waiting for us downstairs, best not to keep them waiting."

He slid his room keycard into his pocket and followed Simon down the hallway into the lift, pressing the button for the ground floor and stepping out of the elevator doors once they reached the ground floor and following Simon outside, both of them stepping into a fully blacked out Rolls Royce.

Simon heavy-handedly shut the car door behind him and pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through Instagram for a few minutes before putting his phone back into his pocket.

Alex sat absent-mindedly in the car and stared out the window, watching the city pass by as they journeyed through it before arriving at Our Lady Of Lourdes.

They both stepped out of the car, the driver remaining in the car with his glare fixed on the church.

The two followed a crowd of people into the church and took separate seats amongst the church pews.

A priest stepped up behind where the coffin was placed and began to speak into the microphone.

"We are all gathered here today, not to mourn the death or Mr Alan Blunt, but to celebrate the many achievements he had reached during his life. And while some of his life might still be shrouded in mystery, given the nature of his former occupation, we do know that Mr Blunt achieved much in his life, serving in the Special Forces at a point in his life, during his early years. Playing for the English national Rugby Team and passing his separate university degrees, all with first class passes, what we do know is that Mr Blunt achieved a lot in his life."

A few people, none of which Alex knew were called up by the priest to say some words about Alan Blunt.

After a while, Jones was called up by the priest to give a speech about her ex-colleague.

"Given the nature of the job we had, no one was really close, especially with Alan during his job, but after a while of working with him, you gained a certain telepathy with him, at certain times it became obvious to you what he was going to say or do. Not many people knew this, especially at his workplace, but Blunt was on the inside, a caring, protective person with a tragicomic, but funny sense of humour that came to light after knowing him for a while."

Mrs Jones sniffled and the priest began to speak again.

Alex let out a small laugh

"Thank you, Mrs Jones,"

Ave Maria began to play on the organ and a choir stepped out from a section of the church.

After another few minutes, the funeral was over and everyone went back to their cars and began the journey home.

As Alex exited the church he noticed someone stood on the other side of the churchyard walking towards the crowd of people leaving the church and climbing into sports cars or blacked out SUV's.

For a moment he stood still and stared at Alex before turning around and heading back into the city.

Alex climbed into the back of the blacked out car and loosened his tie, slamming the door behind him and falling asleep as the car began its journey back into the city.

He started at the passing city for a while before pulling out his phone, plugging his earphones in and beginning to fall asleep.

Alex woke up with a jolt as the driver stopped the car and took a brief moment to rub his eyes and stepped out of the Rolls and headed back into the hotel doors.

The receptionist gave him a short smile as he walked past and stepped into the lift and headed upstairs to his room.

He walked through the hallway to his room and swiped his keycard on the door and stepped in.

Alex took his jacket off and began to repack everything he had unpacked in the messy hotel suite.

After he had repacked he slid his phone out of his pocket and stepped into the living room of the suite he had only been in once before. He walked over to and flopped onto the sofa and reached for the remote and put on the football.

He picked up his phone and texted Chloe.

' _Flying back to NY tomorrow x'_

He waited a while for a reply and then put the phone back into his pocket and fell asleep on the sofa.

* * *

' _A car pulled over to the side of the road and stopped for Alex._

" _Where you headed?" Alex said._

" _Phoenix." The man said._

" _Counter-offer." Alex replied, "250 bucks for you to take me to San Fran airport"_

 _Alex pulled the money out of his pocket and flashed it at the man_

 _The stranger took a moment to consider and gave Alex a nod._

 _Alex climbed into the car and the man began to turn around, back towards San Francisco_

" _So." The man said, "Whats ya story kid, what d'you do"_

 _The man was in his mid 50's and spoke with a thick New Orleans accent_

 _Alex ignored him and the man spoke again_

" _I ain't-a grass kid, it's obvious you've done something bad, else you wouldn't be runnin'"_

 _Alex tried to speak but couldn't get the words out_

 _The man gave a sigh and turned the radio on and Alex began to doze off as the man sped down the highway towards San Francisco airport._

* * *

Alex woke early in the morning and heard a heavy knock on the door and drunk shouting from somewhere down the corridor.

He stood up, pushing the hair out of his eyes and opening the door already knowing who was on the other side of the door.

"Flight leaves in three hours, let's go."

Alex picked up his suitcase and bag from off of his bed and stepped out of his hotel room, giving the keycard back to the receptionist on the way out.

The pair stepped out into the cold winter air of the city in the early morning, walking around the corner to an official-looking car and stepping into the back.

Alex stared out of the window, watching the city gradually turning into the countryside as they headed towards Heathrow.

Once they had arrived at the airport and were waiting at the shopping court, Alex received a news alert on his phone and unlocked it.

Alex opened an early BBC news report on the first ever successful robbery of the federal reserve in New York.

The reporter claimed that this had been pulled off by a large group of trained and well-equipped individuals, who made off with around 300 million dollars in cash.

The men managed to, in disguise sneak past all of the federal reserved security systems and escape by blowing a hole in the wall of the vault and gaining access to sewer systems by a tunnel that had been dug before the heist was carried out.

BBC stated the ensuing search would become the largest manhunt in police history around the world and that the head of the FBI said that the robbers would be swiftly apprehended and all the money returned.


End file.
